Soooo we’re what? 3 for 40 on the power play now? Is this where I cry like a freakin baby? How bout I just whine like Syd (its just as loud and annoying) Are we allergic to big games? Maybe a lil stage fright? Maybe we’re better at home cuz its quieter there and they can think and not play panic hockey?

IDk what the deal is but I’d be willing to bet we wouldn’t be havin a billion and 5 too-many-men penalties if the lines were a lil more consistent. C’mon, I KNOW they’re professionals but get real, if they have some kind of an idea who they are playing with, who they shift after etc it would be a boon. Nothing lasts long with TGO, if you play well, he takes the hot guy away from the line to jumpstart another line, if you aren’t clicking, he mixes you up to try to get something going. How the hell are you supposed to get chemistry with that shit happening every 32 seconds?

The PK was not its usual solid self. The first period they held the Quacks off fine. But on the 2 many men fiascos, the Ducks scored against both PK lines (Klee/Dmo AND Z/Sauer). “Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said the first penalty was “confusion on the defensive part” and the second was a player thinking another had come off when he hadn’t. “I guess that happens sometimes and it happened to us twice tonight,” Gretzky said.” Oh for the love of Ivy, Wayne… that doesn’t wash in peewees much less at this level… own your juggling ass mistakes. Sure part of it is the guys but make it easy on everyone and friggin show some patience.

“Bryzgalov was frustrated by the two times Phoenix was called for too many men on the ice, both proving to be costly mistakes.” YA Think? Of course he was frustrated but he still held his own and played a good game. “We are not playing for the first time. This is not our first game,” Bryzgalov said. “It’s one thing when you save a breakaway and you get the penalty. It’s another when you get it for nothing.”

And before I continue to bitch about not showin up for this HUGE games, WTF? no TV? again? Is it me or does it feel like we’re gettin less TV time for away games this season? I understand the local blackouts (hie thee to the local arena if you want to watch) but the away fans don’t even have that option so the NHL gains nothing from the blackout of the away city. So why?

Now because we couldn’t SEE the game, its hard to judge our effort tonight. We didn’t get to see the guys who don’t score a ton but contribute so hard in other ways and help the gunners do their jobs. But judging by what I heard, we didn’t have it tonight. When Bryz is the only reason the Ducks didn’t run us over and leave us as road kill, it had to look as bad as it sounded. Heeter is a good PbyP guy and if there was something to be found he’d have told us about it.

Gunning for 2nd place in the division and a solid 6th spot in the west and we can’t get up for it? Where the hell is the leadership? Where are the competent coaches pushing the right buttons and gettin the guys prepared for the damn-near-playoff type atmosphere? These kids have no clue what its like. Time for Steven Reinprecht, Olie Jokinen, Edward Jovanovski to step up and lead by example (yes, if I knew their middle names I woulda used the whole thing in my best Mom is really pissed voice) There are too many games where Doan has to carry the whole team on his back. He can’t keep doin that on his own. The kids have been doin most of the heavy lifting in our wins, that has to stop too. DMo? DMo? where the hell is your shot boy?

When a team is getting the kind of goaltending we have been getting there is no excuse for not giving at least a competent showing. Not to take anything away from young Jonas Hiller (who sounded like he was awesome tonight) but when we face a team as wounded as the Ducks (no Perry, no Selanne) this shoulda been a walk in the park rather than a walk over broken glass. Danny practically gets decapitated and we can’t take advantage of a 4 minute PP?

Okay I am done ranting like a freakin banshee. We need to find a fix for our totally sour power play… and we need to find it fast. The schedule isn’t going to get any easier in the next few weeks. 1/2 the games are away games and our road record is becoming abysmal. (6-11-3) and facing {MIN/VAN/CGY/EDM/SJS} in the next 10 games is not going to help those numbers. 4 of the next homers are almost as bad including our uber nemesis CHI and DET. In fact all of Jan and Feb look like a cluster waiting to happen. We better find some consistency and get a faceoff coach and concentrate on our power play every chance we get. Trust me, its easier to defend a playoff spot than to climb into one.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020581

God I love Coyotes hockey… even when it makes me want to spork out my own eyes.

We got to sit on the glass on Z’s side of the rink. What a freakin rush! This game had a lil bit of everything. Fast paced non stop action and a chalupa at the end! The 5 - 4 score doesn’t tell the tale at all in this win.

The Islanders came to visit and I practically chewed my nails to the quick worrying about Dipietro’s ability to give his team that big edge with his puck handling. Dip is one of the best in the league at providing that outlet jump from the net.

I settled down pretty quickly when we jumped out to the 1 - 0 lead on the stick of Tiki’s sick goal. Walk in low, deke, slither, backhand, score! Very sweet! We have good numbers when drawing first blood (11-6-1 when scoring the first goal of the game). Then it took the Isles almost 8 minutes to answer it on Bergheim’s wrister. But by that point we couldn’t seem to get the hang of fighting off the NYI’s triangular zone entry. Some big hits were bein thrown but the boys weren’t limiting the Isles chances very well (13 - 10 sogs in favor of NYI) OhHale took a borderline interference penalty (ok he interfered but he didn’t inhale) but Campoli dorked out with a hold to give us a break and a 4 on 4 situation. We took serious advantage and in the waning seconds drew a delayed call. Guess the proof is in the pudding… Z is hella dangerous back on the blue if the boys will just fraggin look up and pass. My baby boy grabbed the lead back for us with that new slap shot of his. 2 - 1 Yotes into the first intermission. (yes that was me wobblin the glass almost off its moorings in section 113… I’ll probably be banned from glass seats now, but I don’t care)

The second period was pretty good too. The captain scored one of those odd angle shots that have been making regular appearances for us lately. Rhino got his 200th point on the assist. Of course the second period was also the start of a very rough night for Tim Jackman who took a deliberate swing (apparently trying for Jovo) and hit Telly in the head, knocking him over and tweaking his helmet. The entire crowd began to religiously boo everytime Jackass touched the puck. The team should have drawn straws and decided who was gonna take that asshat behind the woodshed. He deserved it. And the refs who missed it? Should be sentenced to watch that clip over and over and over, maybe next time they see a goalie gettin roughed up they’ll call something.

The third period started out fantastic as the Joker put away a classic rebound goal in the first 5 minutes. But Josh Bailey answered it in less than a minute with his first NHL goal. But still, 4 - 2 in our favor was quite impressive. Lucky Lindy stole a puck and went down to on the breakaway to give Dip a lil 5 hole misery and get us our 3 goal lead back. Apparently we then went into a coma. (they really gotta stop indulging in these rest periods) Z made a rare miscue in challenging Richard Park on his entry into our zone, Park was flat out flying and got by Z to pop Telly and get back within striking distance. 5 - 3 Yotes. The entire crowd and the teams take a moment to celebrate Doug Weight’s 1000th NHL point (Weight joins a short but illustrious list of American born players to hit that bench mark). Apparently we still don’t take Richard Park seriously… Park pretty much ‘parked’ his ass off of Telly’s weak side and slammed home a snap shot that could’ve cost us the game with a little more time left in the period.

But hey, landmark game for the Isles with lil Josh Bailey’s first marker and Doug Weight’s entry onto the list of elite American born offensemen.Landmark game for us as well since we moved into a serious tie with ANA for 6th spot in the conference and a secondary tie for 2nd in the Pacific division!And Z celebrated his 300th NHL game with a goal, an assist and 2 blocked shots.

Stars of the game…Telly, Tiki and my baby boy with the 1st STAR!!! Go Z!!!

We face the Quackers tomorrow. Probably one of the most important games of the season. We win… we strut home in 2nd place for the Pacific and 6th place in the conference… not too shabby for the underdawgs. If we lose… we don’t fall, but rather, we hang about in neutral since the closest team to us can’t gain enough points to screw up our 7th place strangle hold.

See more of Teal’s pics

I hope everyone had a great New Years and that 2009 brings everything you wish for.

12/26/08 Yotes VS Kings part 1

The first game on Friday night I expected a flat and sluggish group of pups to flat out get crapped on by the Kings. But I got a surprise visit from a team that (while not great) didn’t quit. We came out hot and high. The Kings tried to match us in intensity but couldn’t quite do it. On any night that Shane Doan and Ilya Bryzgalov are in high gear, my money is on the Yotes. And unfortunately for the Royals, they ran into not only the Doaner and Breezy but also into a Pistol Pete Mueller, trying to shake off the sophmore jinx. The game was a pretty routine bit of pong until Muels found a spot that Jonathan Quick just couldn’t cover. The Yotes did a fantastic job of keeping the dangerous Doughty out of the action (and on Doughty’s best run, the post assisted Breezy in spades). Sauer, Klee and Z made sure that Kopitar and Brown (despite lots of minutes) didn’t get much in the way of quality tries at Bryzzie.

Gotta give some props to the very young and very green Mister Quick, without him, the Kings would be in serious trouble while Ersberg recovers. We solidified our spot in the western top 8 and while I was hoping we could pull away from the pack… the second half of the home n home was a total ‘off with their heads’ kinda night.

12/27/08 Yotes VS Kings part 2

Going in to Saturday night I had expectations… apparently I wasn’t the only one, as the Job was pretty full and buzzin w/ anticipation. Unfortunately now I know how the King’s fans felt on Friday. “a defeat that deflated a rare full house” At least the Kingiefans only paid $11.50 to see their mess… trust me it hurt a LOT more at $60.00 bucks on Saturday. Not to mention that at least their team woke up and tried. My boys… not so much.And we had special guests that we brought to the game (Teal’s bro and sis-in-law) see how happy and anticipatory they look?

Soooo… Saturday night… The boys slept walked?…err sleep walked? oh hell, they oozed out onto the ice like a 3 toed sloth on extra strength Lunesta. Apparently it was some good shit too, cus they never woke up. lets walk thru the horror in a general looksee shall we?

0 - 9 PP *insert sounds of crickets here* ZERO for 9!… including some 5 on 3s… I do believe there just might be cause for alarm in those words don’t you? Am I the only one scanning last years stats and shaking her head? Doan and Jovo both had over 25 ppps last season… they are nowhere near on track for that this season. It hurts us preciousssss

Face offs - not quite dismal but close enough, Rhino had another off night in the circles along with everyone else, add this sorry statistic to the fact that we couldn’t pass, shoot nor hang onto a puck… ughhh

Puck possession battling was non existent. Kings were ditzing about in our zone all night long. I can’t recall more than a handful of times we came out of a puck challenge with the disk on our stick.

Sinbin parade. They musta been giving away free booze in that penalty box, there was no shame… just guys beboppin in and out of there like, no big deal… this also hurt more than I can say. Ah well, no use beating a dead horse over this stink bomb, luckily the loss hurt nothing but our pride and we had bigger fish to fry on Wednesday.

12/31/08 Yotes VS Avalanche

What is there to say about what we needed to do? We faced the Lanche on Wednesday and did everything right. Bi polar just doesn’t describe us some weeks.

Face offs - 57% Hanzal/Doan/Joker all over 50% and Rhino just barely under the .50 mark…just wish we could do this more often (and at least Marty has stopped being thrown out of the circles so often)

We did all the little things right. Like winning the battles for pucks…often just outright stealin them.

Matching hit for hit…we don’t play physical, we don’t do so well. OhHale gave Hejduk a slam he felt all over again on New Years day. (his hit and his assist kinda make up for his faux pas on the Avs goal)

Staying out of the friggin box! Only 2 PIM were assessed to our boys (IDK if the refs just wanted to get home to celebrate or if we really were that disciplined) but whatever… the defensemen were able to contribute a lot more since they weren’t dogass tired from PK’ing all night. Z on the point during the PP seemed to be making a difference too (not enough PPs to really gauge) but you gotta figure anything that helps prevent odd man rushes/short handed chances has to be good right?

Muels shook off another link in the sophmore jinx chain. Apparently Pistol Pete found a serious chink in Budaj’s armor and nailed him twice up top. Too bad he couldn’t put away the hattie point blank dead center. Ah well I’m sure he’ll take the 2 odd angle markers and hope that ’scoring in bunches’ thing is true.

The LOB line certainly lived up to its moniker. Lisin and Boedker cross the neutral at the speed of light and lob sweet passes to the high slot for Olli to slam home. Works for me and certainly worked for them in this game. I hope TGO can put the itchy trigger finger to rest for a lil while on this line. They look good together.

Ya’ll know how much I adore the Swedish Wolf. Telly Munster stepped up to the plate for this one. A little jittery to start (HEY! he’d been out a while) he quickly got into his rythm and spanked him some Yeti hind ends. Tellqvist and Mueller got the 2 stars they deserved at games end.

Both teams came into this game with 39 points…we came out with 41. We done real good to drop the Yetis and cement that 7th spot for a little while longer. The Quackers are only 1 point ahead of us and the Nuckleheads are only 4… wouldn’t it be sweet to sit in 5th place for awhile (even in a tie?) Its definitely doable with January being a really strong month for us. A game in hand on ANA and they face theose notorious Flyers next (which we should all hope that those boys hit the west coast errr flyin) and us facing a flaky yet still dangerous Isles team, Friday night could well be a big turning point for the season.

See you all at the Job! Friday night is gonna be a hellstorm with ex-Yotie Lil Mikey Comrie comin in on a hot streak.

For more of Teal’s gorgeous game day pics

How do we go from like 40 hits in one game to like 17 hits the next? We only hit teams that can’t/won’t hit back? The hits were about even (17 apiece) but it sure seemed like theirs were nastier and more frequent.

We finally get over the 50% mark on faceoffs (you go Hanzal,cuz no one else certainly did) but our puck possession still sucked lemons. Does anyone else want to yell DECLINE IT! for the love of hockey DECLINE IT! when ever our PP takes the ice? (another you go boi! to Hanzal for not making us endure a PP attempt) Doesn’t it seem like we can only score on the delayed call this year?

Its a damn good thing no one else cept the Quacks were playin or this coulda REALLY hurt. We’ve got a chance tomorrow to make up for this

The first 10 minutes we looked like a pack of ungainly puppies trying to find our way out of a basket. Not a good look for us. Telly looked like a rusted statue of a goalie but came alive fairly quickly.The 5 on 3’s at the end pretty much put the kabosh on him trying to hold us in the game. Yes the refs sucked but we certainly didn’t help ourselves with our undisciplined actions. Predicting that DC will feel a wee bit of tightening on the leash(maybe a view from the press box?) for his mini-meltdown. Even though he fired up the boys by taking on the very large (6′4″ 225lbs) Jason Strudwick, the entire effect was marred by his jaws flappin like a fat ladie’s drawers in a windstorm. STFU Danny…srsly… I thought you had gotten over this tendency.

The Oil made us pay dearly for the youthful mistakes of Enver Lisin at the start of the first. 2 PPs…2 goals and we’re fighting for our lives. The great part was that we didn’t lay down and whine, we actually took the game to them and dominated the second period. It is soo very weird to actually still expect to win after being down by 2. Srsly… after Hanzal scored and Telly and the defense tightened up, I had expectations of pulling off (if not a win) at least a point and ending our Edmonton misery.When Winnie pulled off that move and Lisin scored, I was SURE we’d come all the way back.

The third period both teams were fighting each other to a standstill and we might have survived (1)5 on 3… but 2 of them? No way in hell. Especially with that insane shot of Souray’s waiting to end his drought. (If Z had jumped in front of one of those zingers I’da had to take him out back and explained the difference between team sacrifice and complete and utter stupidity/death wish). Seriously starting to hate Dwayne Roloson, he is a Coyotes killer of the worst order.

So we come out of Edmonton once again empty handed. Head into Colorado to play in the oxygen deprivation tank of the Yeti. An Avs win is another one of those ‘who-do-we-have-to-kill for the W games’. Sitting at 33 points and looking to climb back in the hunt for a berth, these guys need to be shoved back so they don’t get too close… we end the month of December against them and every loss against us helps next time we face them.

As always… Let’s Go Coyotes!

Whodathunkit?

Lil Kyle Turris had the game of his life on Thursday night. Handing us 8th place with the help of his trusty Russian sidekicks Bryzzie and Lisin. Don’t be hatin, a few more games like that and KT will have proven TGO right. No one else could solve the very hot Dan Ellis (who is playing extremely well right now and is a big factor in Nashville hanging around in contention). The Preds have been habitually low scorers this season and KTs timely goals were just enough.

It seems like the rest of December is MUST WIN games… 4 pointers or some wanna be team tryin to creep past us so any loss (w/out a point) would truly impact us.

Thank goodness Bryzzie matched Ellis for intensity and played solid if not brilliant in this one. Enver Lisin just keeps gettin better and better. The lil Russian Rocket flat out makes things happen out on the ice, each and every shift he seems to break things open on some level. His linemates are starting to recognise it very well. The break away on the first goal was beautiful (thanks to Lucky Lindy for recognising Ellis’ weak spot and spreading the word to KT and to the REAL Jovocop for the pokecheck) but the second goal was one of those ugly ones and with out Lisin popping Ellis like a taser, this opportunity doesn’t happen.

Funny how one of the league’s bad boys shied away from any extracurricular activity w/ the Wild Thang (apparently Danny did everything but triple dog dare Jordin Tootoo to go. After the 6th invite… a ref stepped in and made Carci back off with the threat of a 10 min) too bad we’ll never see a game w/ DC mic’d up…

So we send the Preds home and hop into the 8th spot like we own it. We timeshare well but with the Wild’s current foundering I feel like we own 7th all by ourselves. So we stay home, rest up, hang out and prep for what could very well be the game of the season so far…bring on the Bluejackets!

Can I say whodathunkit again?

I mean, srsly…The Coyotes in 7th place… all alone… no timesharing? Sound like peyote dreams? Well think again… 2 - 0 SHUTOUT! 4 game series SWEEP!

Bryzgalov was so solid, so hot and so in the moment that the Jackets had nowhere to go. With a stunning set of defensive corpsmen in front of him, there didn’t seem to be anything SuperBryz couldn’t do… including shutting the closet door on those poor, tired looking Blue Jackets. This was a major milestone for us. playing a game that had so much meaning (7th place in standings, pushing a close competitor down the standings ladder and closing the mouths of all who drag out that nasty Nash goal to taunt us with every game against these guys). “A shutout is like a dessert,” said Bryzgalov, who has allowed only three goals in his last three games. “Most important is we are in a playoff race right now and Columbus was two points behind us. It doesn’t matter if we win 2-0 or 6-5, it’s a huge two points for us.”

A series sweep over the Bluejackets by a ragtag group of kids, an ailing #1 goalie and a coach that many have been begging to step down. Oh yeah the motley crew stepped up and swept the Jackets with a cagey mix of old shooters and new shooters with Rhino drawing first blood and Boeds puttin the insurance goal to bed.

Mules to Ksquared to Doaner rocked Mason just enough for that tough ol dog Rhino, who tucked the rebound past Mason to give us the lead and what would eventually be the GWG.

That Lucky Lindy seems to be makin things happen ever since he got here. “(Lindstrom) made a good play taking the guy on the wall a little bit and the puck bounced to me, ” said Boedker, who has 16 points in 33 games in his rookie season.

“It was supposed to be Enver (Lisin) on the ice, but he was getting his skate fixed so I took a chance and jumped on and was lucky the puck was right there.” May the force continue to be with us and hopefully Boedker can clump a few together after that beauty.

Can you say JOVOCOP!

Well I can…the monster cop was back and dishing out extreme stopping power all night long. One of those stand-em-ups nearly cost that Jacket his tailbone, (hittin the ice, bouncin, then sliding several feet is hell on the coccyx). Hello! the blueline was committing assault w/ intent to win, all night long. Sig Sauer

and the Iron Czech

had Breezy’s back and sides and any other angle the Jackets could dig up.

Oh look! Klee was makin York sammiches too w/ a lil Zebra on the side.

Even Enver ‘Feivel’ Lisin got his licks in.

Carcillo finally got a bout with Boll and to me there was no clear cut winner but some decent knucks were chucked in this one. One thing about DC is there is just no quit in the boy. Boll was tryin to tie him up w/ an equipment strip but DC was havin none of that… he kept battlin even as parts were fallin to the ice. Gotta love the Wild Thang.

This was one sweet game.

http://coyotes.nhl.com/team/app?gameNumber=483&gameType=2&page=Recap&season=20082009&service=page
Last 5 games

DATE RESULT
12/20/2008 CBJ 0 @ PHX 2

12/18/2008 NSH 1 @ PHX 2

12/16/2008 PHX 1 @ DAL 2 a point!

12/13/2008 DET 5 @ PHX 4 a point!

12/11/2008 MIN 1 @ PHX 3

Next up EDM oy! http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=260584&lid=sublink03&lpos=topRelated_nhl

Standings http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/standings/

AMAZING GAME… simply astonishing… c’mon you know it was.

I think I’m gonna call this game our declaration of independence game. First we finally beat the Wild then we come out against the Ded like our asses were on fire. We actually dominated the play in some spots, dictated the game in a lot of the minutes AND we came out of it with the first point against them in years! Oh yeah, good bye OWNAGE! Hello INDEPENDENCE! No one owns the Desert Dawgs anymore baby!

But as they say.. baby steps. We killed 5! power plays in which the Ded could have annihilated us. We scored on 2 of our own. (although I still wish we could decline the PP … that shortie by Frantzen was brutal).

There were several ‘key’ points in this game. Turning points… you know … the ones that absolutely make you sure you are gonna win……or lose.

(1)
Ouch! They scored in the opening minute… Zetterberg no less (with Dats and Homie)… ugh, we’re ded
Ouch! Penalty by Carcillo 5 minutes left in the 1st and we can’t answer Zets goal to save our life …. ugh, we’re ded

WHOA!! Lucky Lindstrom scores! 32ft wrister 27 secs left in period…1 - 1 hmmm…. maybe we’re NOT so ded

(2)
WHOA!! Doaner on the backhand 2 minutes into the second… 2 -1 ummm…we’re ahead? wth? maybe we’re bad ass… we’re up by one on the Wings!

Ouch! well just damn… I knew we were ded… Frantzen w/ the shortie… 2 - 2 why we can’t get a special dispensation to decline those PPs … sighhhh
Ouch! well shit… Klee penalty…we’re ded…Holmie tip in… 3 - 2 we’re sooo ded

(3)
Damn its been 10 minutes… can’t go thru them, can’t go around them, might as well kick their asses

OH WAIT!!!
WHOA!! Boedker? wrister? 3 - 3 game? Holy shitski!! We’re still in this puppy dammitt!!!
Rut roh! They’re turnin up the heat…time is running out…we’re sooo ded… oh wait… we could grab a point! HOLD ON BOYS! GRAB THAT POINT!
WHOA!!! WHOA!!! OMG!!! RHHHIIIINNNOOOO!!!! holy shit! did Rhino just put us up 4 - 3  with less than 5 minutes left to go? NO WAY! way!
We can hold them off! We can WIN this game! We can shut up the F’d up Wingnuts forever! OMG! Hold on guys! Hold on!….

o…. oh no… omybleeding eyes NO! (tar and feather crews line up outside the arena) (pillories are set up) (discussion on the merits of crucification vs draw and quarter spring up throught the fandom) Z … delay of game… PK w/out Z…we are soooo ded.

We lose the face off… damn we are so ded
Hanzal whips the puck 123ft at the suddenly empty net… he misses… we are sooo ded
Hanzal whips the puck 146 ft at the still empty net…. he pings a pipe… we are soo ded
DMo misses his clearing attempt, Zetterberg holds it in, to Hossa, to Franzen…..we are sooo ded… 4 - 4

Ohey! we get a point!!!… but we are still very unhappy cuz the opportunity of the season slipped thru our fingers, to beat the RedWings … in regulation… the rest of the game becomes moot … in the eyes of the world… we failed… again. And there needs to be a goat… someone to blame… just don’t do it here… you were warned.

Lets just say, it took the much vaunted Wings a 2 man advantage to tie this game and they couldn’t put us away in OT either…and it took a shoot out… to bring us down. Thats progress! THATS something to build on! Thats the team I love, the team I am sooo proud to be a fan of. Game by game we are finally getting better. Never a dull moment and always something new. Tied for 8th place!! 5 points ahead of where we were last season! You go boys!

GO YOTES!!!

time to go put Dallas out of their misery.

I guess the elven magic ran out. I give major props to Lemaire for his system. Defense on steroids. But what happens when your vaunted D breaks down? ROFLMAO You lose to the Coyotes. Seriously, Jaques, there has to be a point when your boys can get loose and fire the puck. Eventually St. Nick is gonna miss one, your blue is gonna be sick/injured/having a bad day and offensive output could be the only thing that saves yer bacon. Which takes me to my real point… Balance! A balance of attack and defense and goalie strength wins games.

We had that tonight, that balance.

Our goalie was on fire (is it just me or is Bryzzie movin his lower body rather gingerly? Not seein that normal athleticism although he has done well in the last 2 games)

Our defense was magnificent (the PK denied the Wild 5 times!) Z and Doan racked up 3 BS’ each and led the total of 16. Doan and Boeds led the 26 total with 3 hits each (but Jovo was fierce with his 2) Jovo was apparently the designated enforcer too (anywhere tension broke out, JV jumped in… no one wanted any part of the Coyote Ugly beatin that coulda come from, the Jovocop)

Our offense was from the expected sources and the unexpected. The lil Iron Czech handled hiz bidniz, blasting a slapper past St. Nick for first blood! and then Boeds made the steal of the game, fed it to Mules who then played the Joker in the deck (with a perfect saucer pass thru 3 elves) 25 seconds later to rack up a 2 goal lead. Whippin the momentum in our favor in the weezing seconds of the second period. Lucky charm Lindstrom popped the 3rd goal early in the last period. All even strength…all with authority.

Not too shabby! Antii Miettinen cashed in on our only bad defensive shift. Looked like Lisin and the D got their wires crossed and fouled up Bryz but Antii was quite happy to take the credit. We finally turned Lemaire’s game back on him and shut down the power on the Wild.

We cauterized a seeping wound (it annoyed everyone with a brain cell that we couldn’t solve these shutdown artistes). Now we gotta bring that A game + to Saturday’s first meeting with the Ded Things… and THEY just lost to DAL… they are NOT going to be hapy campers. Hopefully we can make it 2 losses and REALLY piss them off for the other Pacific teams they may face on this trip!

You say bitch like its a bad thing… yeah I was bitchy…bitching…whatev. All I wanted was for the boys to play to the best of their ability. Its not ALL about the W. There are games that we win and don’t deserve and there are games that we lose and have totally worked our asses off.

Bryz was a wee bit shaky, but he battled through it and when the Stars put the pressure on in the third… Bryzzie pillowed up and denied them their reward. That kind of performance is all I really wanted from him. Don’t give up, don’t give away anything. Make them take your win away from you. Go into the game with the attitude that its already yours and force them to play your game. I liked the moxie Breezy showed to come back from the shellacking with attitude and giving the boys their chance to take this game.

And the boys showed up. They backed Bryz 100%… The Fridge was fallin on people like I haven’t seen before, between DC and Fridge there were 8 solid, nasty hits. Maybe Bryz should buy the guys dinner before every game if the result is a ‘real’ hockey team and a chalupa night. Not to get too high but the effort was there, they weren’t selfish, they didn’t try to carry the whole game on a couple of pairs of shoulders. It was great to see our PP actually work, it didn’t always result in a goal, but it was awesome to get shots on goal, bodies in front of the net, cycling without losing the puck every other pass.

Jovo looked good tonight. C’mon you know he did. And Peter freakin Mueller looked great, that diving slide to keep the puck alive was amazing. Boedker and Lisin were flat out flyin in this one, Lisin was playin the body and had 2 hits and the Great Dane was opening up serious ice with his speed and a couple hits of his own. You gotta love watchin Boedker, so fast and damn strong. (No more hooking Enver!) KT really is getting into a groove, not quite ready to concede that he wouldn’t have benefitted from another year of college but I am impressed with the kid’s willingness to do whatever it takes. IDK why Klee doesn’t play more, he looks good every game. Z only had one block (LOL as if thats the only thing he does) it was good to see a Coyotes game where the lil iron Czech isn’t bruised, bleeding and half dead from doin more than any defenseman should have to. Kurt was a wee bit off tonight, a lil flat or sluggish if you will. Hopefully we don’t see him so flat footed for awhile(He’s gettin a pass for this one cuz everyone is entitled to an off night)

The return of Olie Jokinen was a cause for extreme celebration. The Joker announced his presence with 2 goals and 57% in the face off circles. Hanzal is waaay past hot. The kid just grows leaps and bounds. 2 goals, a hit and 50% in the dots. What is it with this kid and any empty net in the vicinity? Rhino shed his cloak of invisibility and was a joy to watch heading up ice and in the faceoff circles w/ a superior 63%. Loved seein him take a couple of pages out of Hanzal’s playbook with the backhand into the empty net.Tiki w/ a sweet take away and the behind the net feed! Is the new kid some kind of good luck charm? Lindstrom arrived in SA and helped cauterize the Rampage’s 17 game bleed out streak right away. He joins the big club and even though he didn’t get on the board, he was definitely a big presence buzzin around Turco like a persistent horse fly.

Even if we hadn’t managed to come away with a win I would have liked this game. There was a unit out on the ice, they played together and for each other. 5 - 3 final Yotes… we’re definitely not out of the woods yet but 13 Yotes got points in this one and man, it feels great to be able to write that final score.

Rough, rough road trip. I really don’t know where to start on this one.

The boys left here on a 6 goal high. Bryzzie subbed in for Telly and didn’t let in a single goal so his confidence shoulda been at least in the chill zone if not high. We were a game over .500 again and had won 4 of our last 5. So what happened?

In St. Louis we were overconfident and didn’t play the whole 60 minutes. We got started on a seriously physical note. We didn’t sustain it though. We let the Blues stay with us. Then we let them get ahead of us (okay flukey goal off the D but it counted as the GWG).We never turned on any serious heat until the last desperation 2 minutes of the third. We lost. I can”t say it was a horrible game, but it was definitely winnable and we let it slide right through our gloves.

We went into Chicago already broken. IDK what happened. We hit the ice already broken. This wasn’t some kind of meltdown, it wasn’t a total goalie issue either. NOBODY came to play a game at all, much less a 60 minute game. Carcillo tried to set the tone early with extreme predjudice. The first shot Bryzzie stopped told the tale of how confident he was feeling (he stopped the puck but started looking behind him in uncertainty). The first goal was not pretty… the second goal was on the team mostly…after that its a tossup of who looked worse the goalie or the team. By the time the 4th goal went in I was hoarse from yellin at the screen for Telly to be put in. Then Panger and Heeter casually threw out this lil gem…(wait for it… its ugly) … Goalie Mikael Tellqvist has a bruised foot, he won’t be subbin in… So did we just go out on the road with a single, mentally unbalanced goalie? We couldn’t have one of the SA kids come meet us in CHI, just in case what happened, happened? Color me stupid and put a bow on my head…Highlight of game? Enver ‘Feivel’ Lisin. Enver was sooo NOT leavin Chicago on a goose egg. David Hale was the only defenseman NOT a minus… fairly pitiful as highlights go ain’t it?

There were more fights and jawing than any real playing going on from our side (please… dont anyone bring up … ‘if McGrattan had been on the ice’, or I may have to resort to some violence of my own). JeebusMerryandJehosophat DC FOUGHT! JOVO FOUGHT! HALE FOUGHT! KT FOUGHT! was there anyone who didn’t fight? and guess what? we still lost … 7 - 1 …

Everyone sucked. Even my beloved Z had a horrid game. I’m going to stop right there… no use in beating a dead horse unless you just want tired arms. Sooo… we sucked in these first 2 road games… yeah we did… but what happens now? How we play Dallas lets us know if this team can bounce back or not. If this team is a collection of guys on skates or an NHL team. I’m not neccessarily talkin about a win in Dallas either… but we better tighten the straps on the hard hats, step into some steel toed boots and bring the work ethic back.

We get the Joker back on Wednesday. There will be a bit of a shake up. Who rides the pine? Who stays in? I don’t know what its going to take for Breeze to get his act together, he’s gotta be feelin like shit, but he has to get his head right. Telly said it best, 21 guys, all have to play their best, all 60 minutes, thats how we win.

We haven’t had a horrible run. This was just one game out of 82. How we choose to respond both Wednesday AND the next time we face the Hawks is the real story. Until we are mathematically eliminated from a playoff berth I consider us contenders. So let’s ALL pull up our socks, put this one behind us (not forgettin it) just learn and move forward. It’s hockey people, not life or death. We play again on Wednesday and hopefully we can take our disappointments out on the Stars.

Last word on the Chicago game…if Versteeg doesn’t get a minimum of 1 game suspension the NHL should declare its rules a joke and disband. 2 game misconducts and an instigator at 19:58…automatic suspension

I really gotta get my ‘What a Lil Bitch’ list back up and running so I can add Sopel and Versteeg to it.

WOW! Dontcha love it when the Leafs come to town? We got the game of the season… so far… on Thursday night. Dontcha just wanna keep Hanzal’s parents in town too. Marty went ghettofabulous in their honor.

But let’s start at the beginning shall we? It is so much more fun. Sit back and let Onyx tell you a story about the night the Leafs fell in the desert, how the Breezer got his groove back and what happens when Hanzal gets hot. No, I’m not mixing metaphors, these are all elements in the story people… now just read on.

The teams were quite evenly matched that dark, cool night in the desert. The Swedish Wolf was guarding the net for the side of right. The former Shark Toskala was minding the Toronto bastions. But out of nowhere came 2 fierce warriors determined to prevail. Hanzal struck first after Toskala was lured nearly out of the net. 1 - 0 for the good guys. Then the Russian scoundrel known only as Poni, struck back, hammering rebound after rebound back at the Wolf until one finally went into our net. 1 - 1. No, no don’t despair, the intrepid Hanzal strode forth once more to do battle against the arch villain Toskala. With a mighty backhand, our knight in red drew blood once again, giving us back our lead. 2 -1 Yotes. Alas, the blue clad villain Poni returned fire and tied the game again. 2 - 2. Stride for stride these two behemoths jousted throughout the 1st round.

A brief intermission ensued and the war was once more enjoined. The hero Hanzal marshalled his reserves and although outnumbered and besieged, slew the Toskala with a shorthanded goal. Helms, chapeaus and head coverings of all kinds showered down upon the jousting field, honoring the Hanzal’s briiliant achievement… 3 - 2 Yotes. But the vile villains of Toronto refused to give up, repeatedly crashing through our countryside until one despicable knave named Blake managed to slip past the Wolf’s defenses to tie the contest yet again. 3 - 3. Well good king Wayne saw that the forces for good were starting to lag and the Wolf, though fully capable of finishing the contest with valor, could use some respite. So he called upon the knight errant Bryzgalov to relieve the Wolf and bring a lift to the hard battling yet beleagured heroes.

Thus started the third and final round of the contest. The valiant desert host rallied round the new net guardian, showed him love, and began to battle with new earnest. First came Sir Rhino with his fearless comrads Morris and Doan to break the tie and infuse new will into the stalwart warriors. 4 - 3 Yotes and a chalupa feast was assured! Again Sir Rhino charged forth, the audacious Morris and plucky Mueller at his back for yet another raid on the flagging Toskala, bringing the score to 5 - 3. There was no pity to be had as the brash and cheeky, Tiki, unselfishly setup his stalwart paladin Fedoruk for the coup de grace in the waning moments of the game. 6 - 3 Yotes. And THAT children is the conclusion of the story of how the Leafs fell in the valley of the sun.

hey! okay, a lil wonky but thats basically what happened. In between all that knightly crap, there were the weakest boarding calls I’ve seen in quite some time. Minor dust ups including DC getting his first misconduct of the season (whoa! wild thang is truly back and thank goodness for it). TGO made a crazy intuitive goalie decision and pulled Telly for Bryzzie and rallied the boys up for the final push. brilliant! (I guess the old saw is true, when something crazy suceeds you are a genius, when it doesn’t you are a goat). Z played like an insane maniac AGAIN! goin down in front of the over extended Bryz to block yet another shot and actually hand pass the puck out of danger in a crease scrum (does my baby not have ANY sense of self preservation?) Hanzal was simply and completely amazing. Rhino showed the young Leafs some new tricks.

The only bad thing I could find in this game was the PP and the FO… again.(12-11-2) over the .500 mark again! Thank god for home games. Now if we can take at least 2 of these 3 totally winnable games on the road trip, all we be well in my world and maybe by the time the boys get back I will have shaken this truly heinous cold.

If you want the unmedicated version of this post mortem try Odie over at five for howling or the refreshingly honest pension plan puppets take. Schenn is going to be a fantastic defenseman. Kaberle apparently shoulda stayed home and is probably regretting his NTC decision to stay a Leaf. Gotta love Poni.